Love Beyond Secrets
by Polkahotness
Summary: "What do I have to do to get you to stay?" he asks. Her answer? "You know I would never dare ask anything of you..." A prom fic with a happy ending to beat all happy endings. Please read and review!


**_First off, hello everyone! I'm back with ANOTHER prom fic, so bare with me folks! This story was inspired by a picture posted by MyLastFantasy on the facebook group and I just couldn't help myself but to write about it, it was so good._**

 ** _please check out her amazing work, and enjoy this fun fic!_**

 ** _xo_**

 ** _Polka_**

* * *

 _Knock, knock, knock_ I rapped on the Pataki door three times good and hard, though my pulse was racing by each second I waited just before Big Bob opened the door with an unenthused look at myself; shakily holding the corsage I'd bought for her- a perfectly pink rose medley with baby's breath for added color and some white daisies mixed in altogether.

I knew she'd like it when I bought it, but now I wasn't so sure and started to second guess myself the moment the door opened.

"Oh, it's just you, Arnie, c'mon in," he said, which mildly irritated me seeing as I hate being called by the nickname that is my cousin's actual name.

"Th-thanks, Mr. Pataki-"

"Bob, kid, it's Bob, alright?" He said before turning around to head back into the trophy room where his television was blasting 'The Wheel.' "Mr. Pataki is my father, you got it?"

I swallowed hard and nodded my head a few times. "Sure, yeah, I uhh- I get it Mr… Bob."

"There, that's more like it. Take a load off boy, come sit and watch some TV with the old man while the girls finish up whatever it is they're doing up there."

"They're probably-" I tried, but Big Bob was ignorant to my trying.

"They've been at it for nearly 3 hours now I mean, criminy, how much make-up does it take to make the kid look beautiful? She's got the Pataki genes!"

I watched as the wheel spun around on the television show with ebbs of clapping urging it onward.

"So you uh, you into sports or something?" Bob asked and it took me a moment to fully understand what it was he was asking me.

"Not really, no. I used to be in basketball-"

"Oh geez," he said with a roll of his eyes, "no offense kid, but aren't you a little short for basketball?"

 _Keep it together, Arnold,_ I thought to myself as my glowering anger began to seep into my veins, _it's only going to be a few minutes until-_

"She's all ready!" Olga called out from up the stairs and I was quick to get up off my seat and make my way towards the steps to see just what it was Helga was wearing and to see her in the light she was always meant to be in- center stage.

"'Bout time," Big Bob grumbled before following me to the stairs where Olga and Miriam were proudly standing side by side.

"Mommy, Daddy," she took extra time to look at me, "Arnold," Olga continued, "I present to you, Miss Helga G. Pataki-"

Suddenly, two arms sprouted from her family to push her way through and begin walking down the steps towards me. "Criminy! It's just a dress for God's sake"

"Yeah a dress that cost me nearly 4000 dollars! Now you get down here so we can get some pictures already and I can get back to catch the last few minutes of the wheel so chop, chop!"

As she walked down the stairs, even in a hurry, I couldn't help but stare at the woman before me. She looked royal and elegant unlike anything I'd ever seen. She was stunning in her pastel pink gown with ruffles at the bottom that made her flare out into the perfect princess, no, queen silhouette. The dress began just below her collar bone which glistened with body glitter I assumed she'd put on with her signature vanilla and lavender body spray. Each sleeve went down to form-fit her strong, yet dainty arms and stopped at a point just below her middle fingers.

And atop her head was her signature pink bow to match; holding together a cascade of blonde curls that was carefully pinned down and went all the way to her mid-back.

Helga had never looked so beautiful.

I'd never be able to live up to her all night, which was completely fine by me. Helga deserved this moment and each moment afterwards; all the pictures, the limo ride, the grand entrance. Each place we went she was fawned over and while she would deny it, I saw the faint blush in her cheeks each time as she was complimented; something she wasn't used to receiving- especially all in one day.

But compliments and all, I'd never seen Helga full-on blush as hard as she did the moment I complimented her as we entered our school gym decked to the nines (by Rhonda and Nadine of course) with blue, white and silver accents all around us.

"Helga," I said while holding her hand as we walked in, "I haven't told you this yet but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm in a dress and it's a big deal and you wanted to say-"

"I wanted to say," I stopped her, "that you look beautiful, Helga."

But all my words went flying out the window the moment Rhonda came up to us.

"Arnold! My, do you look smashing and oh," she gasped, "why Helga you look absolutely, just," she shook her head in disbelief, "exquisite."

"Why thank you Rhonda," she said with a probably sarcastic curtsey, "it is so nice I meet your standards today on all days."

 _Yeah, that was definitely sarcastic,_ I said to myself while grabbing Helga's hand again and smiling politely at Rhonda. "The gym looks really nice, Rhonda," I said trying to segue to anything but Helga's soon-to-be comment that would turn Rhonda against her again in a snap.

The two were always fighting for dominance, but in different ways. Helga always wanted to appear tough but Rhonda wanted to run the entire school. Between the two of them, there'd been many-a-fight and I didn't want Helga to have her night squashed by the Queen B herself.

"Oh isn't it though?!" She responded while spinning around to admire her work. "I think the silver gives our 'Night Under the Stars' that real POP, don't you, Arnold?"

I swallowed and nodded my head, "Yeah, Rhonda it looks, it looks really great."

"Well thank you again, Arnold, but if you two will excuse me, I really must go greet some more people. Winning Prom Queen is essential to tonight, so make sure you vote. For me, that is," she said before floating off in her designer ballgown and calling after her, "And don't try the punch, I think Stinky, Sid and Harold added something quite off par if you know what I'm saying."

Helga rolled her eyes and then turned to look at me. "The gym looks nice, huh?"

"What?" I asked above the loud music bumping the entire school.

Ignoring my question, Helga went on, "The whole thing looks kinda cheesy to me I mean, 'Night Under the Stars'? Really? Isn't that the theme in Carrie?"

"Helga…"

"What? I'm just saying. Super cheese wizzy in here, if you ask me."

I smirked and shook my head while we made our way to the table that Phoebe and Gerald were sitting at. "You gonna vote for her for prom queen?"

She laughed with a shake of her head, "No way, Arnold, are you kidding? I'm voting for Eugene."

I raised a brow, "Eugene?"

"Yep," she said with a pop of her 'p,' "They do it all the time on those TV shows, right?"

"Usually as a cruel joke, Helga. Just because he's gay doesn't mean he wants-"

"Arnold." She stated. "He's been campaigning all week."

"Oh," I merely responded as we took our seats at the table, "well it still seems a little cruel to me, don't you guys think?" I asked Phoebe and Gerald who had no idea what we were talking about.

"What do we think about _what_?" Gerald asked with a sassy grin and a lean into us over the table. "That the three stooges spiked the punch bowl? Cause Rhonda wasn't lying about _that_. I even watched them do it."

"And you didn't stop them?" I asked while Phoebe looked on at him horrified.

"Nah, it's a school tradition. That's why they also offered complimentary Yoohoo's this year," he said before popping his open with a grin. "To Prom, my fellow man," he toasted with his hand proudly on Arnold's shoulder and then looked at Phoebe and Helga with a big grin, " and our women, on this, our goddamn junior prom!" he took a sip of his drink as did Phoebe while Helga and I shared our best friend's drinks to complete the grand toast Gerald had made.

"Now, my friends, let's get our groove thangs on out on that floor out there, am I right?!"

Dancing has never been particularly my strong suit, no less, my absolute worst suit. Unless I've been given dance moves ahead of time, and as much as I like to groove out in my car or in my own room, my feet never seem to follow through with my thoughts and soon enough, I'm just bouncing awkwardly to the beat and watching everybody else dance seemingly effortlessly while I struggle.

So basically I'm not really a 'prom' sort of guy and if I wasn't nominated for Junior King, I wouldn't even be here in the first place.

Now wait, that's not true. I still would have come even if it was only to see Helga in that magnificent dress even though she won't take a single compliment on it; bar from the one in the limo when I told her she was beautiful and she took my hand to offer it a lone kiss as a response before we made it to the high school gym.

.Oddly enough, it'd been Helga who had asked me to prom in the first place. I was entirely prepared to no-show had it not been for her gorgeous poem that had asked me out to it for in our English class; very dramatically might I add.

" _Alright, and next up we have Helga with a poem. Go ahead my dear, whenever you're ready."_

 _I glanced over to the teacher as she watched eagerly to Helga which wasn't something nobody was used to. It was clear to the entire school that Helga was her favorite, and all English teachers' favorite student._

 _Rightfully so. Helga had quite a way with words. But even now into our four months of dating she'd never let me read any of her poetry; at least not yet._

" _Right, well, this is a uh, a l-love poem. I guess." She took an unusually shaky breath and continued. "I call it, 'Would You Be Mine.'_

 _Two hearts they beat_

 _Like the drums of the battle_

 _Leading me on_

 _Leading me forward_

 _Right into the depths of Hell_

 _These hallways, they meet_

 _Though confining and narrow_

 _Yet we walk as one_

 _Talk as one_

 _I've been captured by the arrow_

 _So long and straight_

 _It pierces my heart clean_

 _Despite my fears_

 _Despite my motivation_

 _You've stolen it, which is fine by me._

 _Two hearts as they beat_

 _Like the rhythm of a tom-tom_

 _So strong and gravitating_

 _Like the arms of an angel_

 _So won't this angel take me to our Junior prom?"_

 _With that, she moved to my desk and laid the poem out for me to see with a small smile curling at the corner of her plump lips. "Well, whattya say, football-head? Wanna do the prom dance with me or would you rather, as your good buddy Geraldo might say, 'get your jiggy it on with some other chick?'"_

I guess throughout the whole thing, I never pegged Helga to be one who would want to dance at a school dance, no less, our junior prom. I guess I just assumed she'd want to ditch half-way through and go stare at the stars as we had on many a school-related-occasion. But on this night, it was her who dragged me to the dance floor to gyrate awkwardly in time with her impeccable rhythm.

"Are you having….having….fun…football-head?" She asked between breaths as we danced and I shrugged my shoulders with a smile on my face.

"I'm with you, so how couldn't I be?"

And that was when typical Helga came into place.

After a simple spin, she stopped hot in her tracks and stared blankly out at the crowd before a deafening CRACK! clicked her back into reality. It was within moments I lost her to the floor, grabbing about as though she'd lost the glasses she never had.

Following suit, I dropped to the floor to help her look for whatever it was she must have dropped.

"What are we looking for?"

"Just go back to the table," she snapped at me which made me only want to look further.

"But Helga, I heard a crack and I'm trying to-"

"Just butt out of it, okay, Arnold?!" She yelled before disappearing further into the crowd on her knees in desperate search for whatever it was she wanted to find exactly.

She wasn't really prepared, however, for me to be the one that found it, though.

"Helga?" I called out while slowly standing among the crowd and staring eyes-wide at the familiar locket I was holding in my hand. "Helga….I uh… I think I found it."

Her head popped up out of the crowd to stare at me, stare at my hands, and then run away as fast as she possibly could.

But I wasn't about to let her run away _that_ fast.

Track and field comes in handy when you're chasing someone.

Not that I was chasing Helga so much as wanting to get an answer out of her.

Our race led us all the way up to the roof where she at last had nowhere left to run and I could confront her about what I'd found bouncing around shuffling feet on the gymnasium floor.

"Helga-Helga, wait! Just stop, please," I begged, though she wasn't having any of it.

"I want to go home, Arnold. This was-this was a big mistake."

 _Ouch,_ I thought as my heart panged hard at her words.

"BeCAUSE Arn _oldo_ , it-I…I…. it's just… you wouldn't understand."

With careful hands, I pulled out the locket that had been smashed by anxious feet on the dancefloor. "Wouldn't understand this?"

She turned to me and stared at the locket as I held it in my hands. With a shake of her head, she turned away from me and said, "I think I should really go, Arnold," her voice solemn and serious though I wouldn't take that as an answer.

"Helga, please," I nearly begged while still holding the broken locket in my trembling hands, "What do I have to _do_ … to get you to stay?"

Standing away from me, the wind blew to send shivers down my spine and sending Helga's hair into a frenzied whirl in my direction; her shampoo and perfume catching wind of my nostrils and sending me further into begging mode. "Please, Helga. I don't want you to-"

But she cut me off. "You know I would never dare ask anything of you," her words were soft and barely audible but I heard them nonetheless and took a tentative step towards her.

"Anything, Helga. You can ask me anything."

Spinning around, her dress twirling with her every move, she turned to face me straight on and sighed. "Don't run away from me."

"Like how you ran away from me?" I asked with slight sarcasm.

"No," she said with a tone I'd never heard from her before; it was stern yet somber and drew me into her azure eyes now pooling with tears to match my own. "Don't leave me, Arnold. I-I couldn't take it."

"But this locket-"

"You never should have seen it," she said before glancing at it again and reaching out to take it from my now sweating hands. "You don't…you don't need to know what I'm like."

"But I want to," I said just as seriously, "I want to know everything about you-"

"No, you DON'T, Arnold," she said with sudden fury, "you-you or ANYbody can't handle me."

"And if I want to?" My words forced another step or two from me until we were close enough to breath in each other's labored breaths. "And if I want to take all of you on, despite whatever it is that locket is to you? With…with me in it."

She swallowed hard and nodded her head a few times before reaching up to dab at her leaking eyes without destroying the makeup Olga had probably forcibly put onto her. "You're, you're… you KNOW why you're in it," she managed though she seemed to be struggling as I tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear; my fingers grazing her cheek before ending at her chin and tilting it towards me.

"Because you love me?" I asked, though I knew the answer.

"Always, Arnold," she said firmly before our lips locked atop the roof of our school; a roof unlike the FTI building and much different than the jungle or any stage.

It was the perfect kiss at the perfect prom, and I was lucky to have Helga on my arm when we re-entered prom to face all our classmates once again. But that didn't matter to me. My eyes remained on Helga's all night.

Like stargazing in the night, her eyes drew me in and it was in that moment that I realized, truly realized, that she wasn't the only one in love.

Because I loved Helga, too, and there was nothing she could do to stop me, this time.

* * *

 _ **Please be sure to review! Thanks for reading and thank you to mylastfantasy for giving me inspiration to write :)**_


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